How Different is 4G from 3G?

Nowadays, most of the mobile devices use the 3G technology, which, as the name suggests, is the third generation of the ever developing mobile technology. When it was developed, its main purpose was to combine voice, data and video feeds into a single signal to be used by mobile terminals. It was also capable of higher transfer speeds than the old generation, thus making web browsing a lot easier and quicker.

Apart from the advantages brought by the new technology to mobile phone users, it also spurred the development of other mobile devices, such as tablets, which could now use mobile carrier networks to connect to the internet and as such gave great accessibility all over the world. It basically meant that users were no longer bound by finding Wi-Fi hotspots or relying on the outdated GPRS technology to connect.

Technology, however, as anyone can confirm, has a way of not standing still and continuously evolving. As such, for a little time now, a new generation of the mobile technology appeared.

It’s called the 4G and it has been in development for a while. While not revolutionizing the mobile tech world, the 4G does bring some major improvement over the current generation. It still uses the idea of combining several signals into one feed, but it improves on the idea and the equipment used.

4G vs 3G

The first major change is that the new 4G technology will be fully IP-based, which will make for more reliable and secure data transfer. 3G networks do a lot of work to convert data coming into and from your phone into IP-based traffic so that it can travel on the internet. That work is unnecessary with 4G!

Also, it will bring an increase in data transfer speeds, as it will be able to support 100 Mbit/s for high mobility and up to 1 Gbit/s for low mobility. In comparison, the most powerful 3G networks can only hold a maximum of 56Mbit/s.

The 4G will also bring an updated Wi-Fi WiMax standard, the new 802.16m, which will be capable to transfer data at the speeds shown above.

Apart from being able to transfer voice, data and video signal, just like the 3G, the 4th generation will also make devices be able to display HDTVutilize High Definition video due to the increased bandwidth and higher data transmission rates.

While the infrastructure for the new technology is still being developed, which might take some time due to financial constraints and the lack of capable devices; it has become clear that this is the future of mobile technology. All we can do is wait and keep an eye out for any new mobile devices which use 4G.